Two years after the state became the epicenter for anthrax scares and hijackers plotting attacks on America, Florida's defenses against terrorism are tightening.
Yet some cities on the front lines say they are still not getting enough supplies and money.
Law enforcement officers who once learned how to defend themselves against guns and knives are now also learning to protect themselves against nerve gas and chemicals.
Police officers have begun to trade paper masks for gas masks and protective suits.
Hospitals are preparing for large-scale terrorism casualties in the same way they've always prepared for hurricanes. Armed guards stand watch over ports and water supplies.
Tens of millions of federal and state dollars are flowing to large cities, counties, health departments, hospitals, law enforcement, and other agencies.
"We've received a significant amount of enhancement for terrorism training as well as weapons of mass destruction," said Broward County Fire-Rescue Assistant Chief Todd LeDuc, whose agency has received about $500,000 from the state and federal government for domestic security training and equipment. "Can there be more? Without a doubt."
According to the state, $134 million of the state's $403 million budget for domestic security is going to South Florida's seaports, health departments, emergency management centers, police and fire departments and hospitals.
Meanwhile, some smaller law enforcement agencies have yet to see much federal or state money and equipment.
And, they say, they're still paying some expenses out of pocket.
"Quite frankly, there are still a lot of promises," said North Miami Police Chief Bill Berger, immediate past president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. "We haven't really received anything of a material manner at the municipality level."
Despite a tight economy, many local organizations -- tired of waiting for funding after Sept. 11, 2001 -- bought their own protective equipment and diverted money from their own coffers to increase security.
In North Miami, Berger said, "We've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, either securing our facilities or trying to acquire the equipment that's necessary, at least what we've been told is necessary."
FDLE Chief of Florida Domestic Security Initiatives Steve Lauer said larger agencies are being outfitted first so they can help smaller agencies respond to attacks that could affect an entire region.
In Palm Beach County, Florida's hotbed during the 2001 anthrax attacks, grant funding has helped the county health department draw up bioterrorism preparedness plans, brought hazardous materials training and has enhanced cooperation between agencies, said county Health Department spokesman Tim O'Connor.
"It's a good start," O'Connor said.
North Broward Hospital's executive emergency preparedness officer Jeanne Eckes-Roper said 20 of 84 hospitals from Key West to Palm Beach are under contract to receive equipment and training.
"There is a strategy to where these 20 [hospitals] will be the first 20, then there'll be the next set, then the next set, with the objective that all hospitals will be prepared to handle to some extent an event," Eckes-Roper said.
Ultimately, hospitals will be able to stockpile the protective suits, masks, storage containers, evidence containers and decontamination equipment, she said.
In Fort Lauderdale, grants coordinator Bob Cook said his city has gotten everything it has applied for.
Among the dollars so far: $35,703 for protective suits; $13,288 for 82 protective masks; $400,000 for extra caches of drugs and medical supplies for the fire department; $418,703 in law enforcement block grants to buy more masks and different levels of protective suits and $310,000 to the fire department to pay for a city emergency preparedness coordinator and buy protective equipment.
So far, Cook said, "We have done very well."
Among the state's goals is providing every one of its 38,365 law enforcement officers with protective kits.
But some smaller agencies like the Sunrise Police Department, which has 173 police officers, are just now beginning to receive equipment from the state.
Sunrise Police Chief David Boyett, whose department protects potential targets like Office Depot Center and Sawgrass Mills outlet mall, said the only homeland security supplies he has received from the state have been 36 protective kits -- and those arrived within the past month.
Florida has ordered and/or delivered $29.6 million worth of equipment for first responders all around the state. Another $95.6 million will be purchased in the coming fiscal year, according to FDLE.
Since 9-11, the state has formed three massive urban search and rescue teams able to respond to disasters like building collapses in Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa. Two federal rescue teams were already based in South Florida.
Florida also sent 24 hazardous material trailers with the highest level of protection and decontamination equipment to fire agencies across the state, including Broward Fire-Rescue and Delray Beach Fire-Rescue, according to the state.
Local agencies are applying for grants that would allow expansion of radio communications between first responders in Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Monroe counties.
The state is also developing a communications backbone that will expand radio communications among emergency responders statewide.
Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne, who heads one of seven regional domestic security task forces, praised the state's regional approach to planning and said that, despite problems in some areas, funding is starting to flow.
"The money's not coming as fast as I want, but it's beginning to come," said Jenne.
All agencies, for example, have received training in recognizing and responding to disasters involving weapons of mass destruction and how to use the hazardous material equipment, he said.
"I believe that 200 hazmat suits have been given out in Broward County, which is not sufficient, but it's a start," said Jenne.
"The people who are [under] the greatest threat or at the greatest risk right now are probably the people who need to be outfitted first," Plantation Police Chief Larry Massey said.
Sunrise, according to its recently released budget, plans to spend $2.4 million in the upcoming fiscal year to upgrade security at its water and wastewater facilities.
The police department has spent $18,500 on protective equipment for its officers.
Local agencies will be eligible for a portion of the $8 million the state has set aside to help cover expenses when the nation goes on orange or red alert.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has raised the nation's threat level three times this year, triggering extra patrols and security at high-risk sites and potential threats.
But those who bought equipment early probably won't be reimbursed, and communities are being asked to absorb new expenses for stepping up routine security, said Lauer.
In the coming months and years, Florida plans to tighten security even more around large venues where high populations of people gather; increase the stockpile of protective equipment and supplies; and continue to train local governments to use sophisticated equipment.
"It's a new world, and we're all trying to adjust to it," Lauer said.
Staff Writer Brittany Wallman contributed to this report.
